


We'll Go Down Together

by Ryuutchi



Category: Cal Leandros - Thurman
Genre: Canon - Book, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-23
Updated: 2009-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-05 01:46:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryuutchi/pseuds/Ryuutchi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not as though Niko's going to die today, or tomorrow, or next week, or even next year.  But, like a boy scout, it always pays to be prepared.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We'll Go Down Together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rayne (FreezingRayne)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreezingRayne/gifts).



> Thanks to [xxxxxxxx] and [xxxxxxxxx] in #Yuletide for doing serious, hardcore beta. Also thanks to [xxxxxxxxxx], [xxxxxxxxxx], and [xxxxxxxxxxxx], who suffered through my fits and freak outs.
> 
> Set close after the end of Deathwish.

Robin never thought about the fact that Niko was going to die. Not that he thought Niko was immortal, of course. Niko was fully, wonderfully human. Nor was Niko invincible. He'd had far too many close calls for anyone to hold onto that illusion, even if Cal desperately wanted to. No, it was simply that Robin never thought of Niko dying; the idea was just so absurd as to be almost unthinkable.

Which was why, when Niko walked into Robin's apartment unannounced at 3am, sat down and declared, 'I want you to do something for me when I die,' Robin simply blinked at him stupidly.

After a moment, when the only response he could think of was still "how did you get in without a key?" Robin shrugged and went to stretch out on his couch next to Niko, taking a drink of the ridiculously expensive mineral water he'd been in the midst of retrieving from the refrigerator as he did. "Not that I mind you dropping by for a little tête à tête," he said, "but I usually prefer opening with more pleasant topics." He paused and eyed Niko, who returned the gaze with his usual unperturbed stare. "Then again, this is you."

"It's nice to know you hold me in high esteem." Niko's lips twitched.

Robin saluted him with the bottle and took another long drink, mouth wrapping around the bottle in a way scientifically designed to be alluring. Niko didn't even blush. "I'd hold you in more ways than that, if you'd give me a chance," Robin said. In response he got barely a lifted eyebrow, but, undaunted as always, Robin just grinned and licked a drop of water from his upper lip.

"Robin," Niko said, a warning in his voice.

That got only a huff of laughter in response. Robin crossed his legs and sprawled a little bit more, supremely comfortable on the luxurious furniture, and thigh pressing carelessly against Niko's hip. Niko shifted his weight, just to move out of the way. "Are you going to deny me forever?" Robin's pout was dramatic, and he arched a fraction, tipping his head so the long line of his throat and the golden, perfect chest disappearing under his silk shirt were displayed to their best effect.

Niko snorted. "Yes."

"If you've just come here to taunt me with what I can't have, then you can just go back to the third frozen hell that spawned you. What are you even doing here at this ungodly hour if you're not planning to learn first-hand why I've been justifiably famous for centuries?"

"I couldn't sleep." Niko's eyes were hooded. For all that Cal tried to cheer Niko up, and left little notes around the house reminding Niko of Cal's continued living presence, Robin was aware that there were still nights when Niko would wake up in a cold sweat and spend an hour in his brother's room, just watching his sleeping form. Apparently tonight, rather than make nuisance of himself, he'd decided to do something more productive. If annoying Robin at a ridiculous hour in the morning could be called "productive."

There was a pause then, long enough that Robin dropped the dramatics and half-sat up. Niko was a quiet man, but there was his resigned I'm-not-dignifying-that silence and then there was the sort of silence that fell when there was something that needed to be said, and it wouldn't leave his throat. Robin could feel that silence settling into his bones, and his eyes narrowed a fraction. Niko, who always sat up straight and attentively was collapsing slowly in on himself, deflating like someone had punctured a hole in his chest. Robin tried to ignore the way his throat tightened over that look, and instead focused on the cold bottle between his hands, flexing his fingers around the neck.

"It's about Cal," Niko said finally. "I'm going to die, Robin. It's a fact. It's also a fact that when I die, Cal is going to try to kill himself." Niko held up a hand to preempt Robin's protests, and Robin's mouth clicked shut around them. "He won't stick his gun in his mouth. But he's going to run recklessly into danger— even more recklessly than he already does." Niko accompanied that last with a sigh, and stared at his hands. It was an entirely un-Niko-like thing for him to do, shoulders slumped and eyes fixed down on his hands which were tangled in his lap. "I think I must have taught him that."

Robin wanted to protest, although he didn't disagree with Niko's assessment. Whenever it had looked like Cal was hurt or dead, Niko had snapped. Whenever it had looked like Niko was hurt or dead, Cal had done the same thing. The brothers might have been polar opposites in their habits, in their looks, in their outlooks and attitudes, but in this they were the same. From what little Robin knew, it could hardly have been something that they inherited from their shared mother, so probably they had simply taught it to themselves when the only person either could rely on was the other.

"Just like you taught him how to housetrain himself. Oh, wait. Have you actually managed that yet?" Robin said. Niko's head jerked up, and Robin nearly had to turn his head away as the darkness in Niko's eyes melted into something odd and warm. "And you could have at least tried to teach him how to clothe himself. It's embarrassing to see him in public. Honestly, it's like he doesn't even try. You should blame yourself. That is definitely a failing of upbringing." Self-consciously, Robin brushed an invisible piece of lint off his shirt. "Although sometimes it's entirely innate. I should know; I taught myself everything I know, and I'll have you know that Cleopatra herself once told me that she loved my ass in that tunic." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, warming to the topic. "Of course she loved everything about me. She lent me several of her handmaidens, and let me tell you, they did things with their tongues I haven't seen in centuries. Of course, the Egyptians all knew the benefits of 'religious' prostitution. I think more cultures could be improved by the introduction of the concept."

Niko stayed patiently quiet through the speech, the dark ache in his eyes replaced by a resigned amusement. "Robin, shut up," he said finally. "I'm trying to ask you for a favor."

"If it's not a sexual favor, then the answer is no," Robin said.

Niko didn't even bother responding to that. He just shifted slightly on the couch and seemed to be trying to decide whether to look at his hands again or at Robin. He finally settled on Robin, although it seemed to take more effort than usual to keep his expression level—which is to say, it actually took some effort. "It's about Cal," he repeated. "I don't want him to die just because I do."

"He could get his idiot self killed at any time," Robin said, sensibly enough. They both knew that it wouldn't happen if Niko had any control over it, but it was still true as far as that went.

"How long do Auphe live?"

It was such a non sequitur that Robin was stuck momentarily. "The species has been around longer than I have, but individual members? It's hard to say. They've been so rare lately, thanks to our Herculean efforts, and they're hard to tell apart, even if you do want to get close to the teeth. But barring the sudden and violent deaths that plague their kind? A good long time, I'd think. A couple of hundred years at least." Niko leaned forward, and the clear gaze that had been fixed on the blank space above Robin's left ear flicked to his face. "Oh, Hermes preserve us."

"I'm human," Niko said. "And Cal isn't."

The blunt words grated on his ears, but Robin nodded. He took a drink out of his half-forgotten bottle of water, the drink metallic on his tongue.

"I'm going to die, and he won't," Niko said, sounding as though he would rather chew broken glass than force the words off his tongue. "I need someone to make sure he doesn't go and get himself killed afterward."

"Me," said Robin. It was obvious, but he needed the acknowledgment. "What in the name of Hermes' holy phallus do you expect me to do with your stubborn, pig-brained brother?"

Niko almost smiled as he stood up from the couch and made a move towards the door. "You're a master in all subjects, unparalleled and unsurpassed. I'm sure one pig-headed brother with a death wish is nothing compared to you."

A little frantic, Robin's voice rose sharply. "There's no evidence he'll live that long, even if he does manage to make it to thirty without anyone else stabbing him. He's not entirely Auphe." He swallowed hard—it was a sucker's bet, and they both knew it. Of all the things for Cal to inherit from his father's demonic spoor, they were lucky if extended longevity was the least of it.

Niko's answer was slow and thoughtful, and if not for the smile in his voice, Robin would have thought Niko was deliberating over his own mortality. "If he dies before me, then you're free and clear, aren't you? If not, though, I expect you to keep him safe, even if it means saving him from himself." What Niko was actually planning to do from beyond the grave wasn't clear, but the threat in his tone was. He towered over Robin, who slouched down on the couch, only the gleam in Niko's eyes belying the intimidating frown on his face.

Robin laughed then, expression clearing as though he weren't considering the transience of two of the only people he could consider friends. "In that case, you should at least give me one kiss before you die."

Niko eyed him with the wariness one might use on a rabid dog to gauge where and how it will attack, but the way his tongue flicked out to wet his lips betrayed him better than any smile. Robin's own salacious grin widened a fraction, and he uncrossed his legs, leaning up to meet Niko halfway. But Niko made a sound low in his throat that probably meant "Down, puck!", and grabbed a fistful of Robin's shirt, which he used to shove Robin back onto the couch. He swung his leg over Robin's thighs, straddling his lap, and the fist gentled into both hands pressed against silk-clad chest. The kiss itself was restrained like Niko himself, slow and careful at first while he tested Robin's defenses, and then faster and rougher. A gratuitous nip to his lower lip made Robin's breath catch as he rolled his hips up against Niko. Robin's hands drifted down to rest on Niko's ass, helping himself to a nice squeeze as he tugged Niko closer.

Niko abruptly broke the kiss and turned his head so his cheek pressed instead against the slick fabric of Robin's shirt. "Let go of my ass, Goodfellow."

"It's such a waste that you're depriving the world of such an asset, though," Robin said. "If you'd just let me, I could probably have it declared the tenth wonder of the world, right after my—"

Something cold and very sharp pressed against Robin's neck. "Finish that thought and I'll have to find someone else to babysit my brother after I'm dead," Niko said.

The only evidence that the rather large knife against his jugular bothered him at all was the way Robin tipped his head back slightly, baring his throat to Niko in a gesture of surrender. "Have it your way. I'd hate to get in the way of a man's concern for his doltish younger brother. Even if you are giving up a once in a lifetime opportunity." He removed his hands and waved imperiously at Niko, who calmly hopped off Robin's lap and straightened his clothes.

"Don't feel too terrible, Robin," Niko said. "I'm sure you can find twins to drown your sorrows in."

"As it happens, I have two sets of triplets lined up for tomorrow night. They don't seem like they'll be as entertaining as the three pairs of Siamese twins I seduced in the early 1900s, but they'll do."

"I don't even want to know." And, to forestall Robin's inevitable stories about his sexual exploits, Niko turned on his heel and left the apartment.


End file.
